I hate supermarkets.

They have all but destroyed the friendly local shops, they hold farmers and other producers to ransom, they buy up buildings they don't need just to stop rivals and they dictate our shopping habits to us - really, they do, did you need those 3 packs of sausage rolls that you got on the buy two get one free? Of course you didn't, and besides, they'll mostly all be out of date by the time you get round to eating them. - The list goes on.

Something I really hate about supermarkets is that now you have to shop in them. As I said, they've all but destroyed the local shops and those local shops that are still around cannot compete with the low supermarket prices because their rents are so high, most probably because a supermarket has moved in locally. Not only that but no one can afford to shop anywhere else, we certainly can't.

If there is one particular thing about supermarkets that really gets my goat, it is the so called 'fresh' produce they sell. You take it home and within a day it has perished and is inedible. So back when my wife was pregnant with the munchkin I vowed to grow my own veg. It was something I wanted to do anyway and having to eat healthily in pregnancy was a good enough reason for the wife to allow me to spend a little extra cash on gardening things.

So, as we're not allowed to dig up our garden due to restrictions in the rental agreement, we planted up all the containers and pots we could get our grubby little hands on and started growing like there was no tomorrow. We even invested in a 'mini greenhouse' to start things off in the cold months.

So far we've had some nice crops, if somewhat small due to the weather, and have saved ourselves a bit of cash. It is well worth the effort. Any food waste we have from the house all gets composted and the bits that aren't eaten by our resident bank voles will go back into growing us more veg. Everyone should do the same.

It really is a very satisfying feeling when you've nurtured a plant for a few months then you go out in the evening pick something that fresh and take it into the kitchen to turn it into the evenings meal.

Both the wife and I also have a knowledge of edible plants. We're not experts by any means and have a whole lot to learn but between us we do know enough to get ourselves free food, from the hedgerows, for a small feast.  (*warning* Do not pick and eat something if you don't know it is safe to eat. If in doubt leave it out!)

Free Food!

We don't have these small wild food feasts as often as we'd both like but when they do happen they brighten us both up. When the munchkin starts eating solids she will be given these same free, healthy foods. What makes these wild food feasts so good is that they are healthy, they are free and in order to get the food we have to go out into the countryside to forage for it.

What could be better than that for a health food?

Last week I made the manly decision of staying a few more hours at my mothers instead of getting caught up in rush hour traffic on the way home, which my wife agreed was a wise choice. Therefore to pass those few hours it was decided that we would head out and do some clothes shopping for the Munchkin then find somewhere to eat.

After the shopping was finished the Harvester was selected as our choice of eatery for the evening as it was close to where we were, we'd been there before and most important of all, it was cheap!

As it was only 5:30 in the afternoon when we arrived, the car park was about half full which made finding a space to unload a baby in easy. When the Munchkin was decanted into her pram we headed in and were greeted almost immediately by what looked like another diner. When I'd realised he was in fact a member of staff he seated us in a good area, if a little close to the air con unit (which to be honest didn't really need to be on, this is Britain not the Bahamas), with plenty of space next to the table to have the pram and not get in other peoples ways.

Within minutes the waitress had taken our drinks orders and returned with the glasses (self service on soft drinks!) and left us to decide what to eat. And what a choice there is! Of the five different menus we had the salad and grill menu, which gives you the option of a starter, a grill, a sauce, a side and a salad. Pretty much what you would expect as standard in any other restaurant, but at the Harvester you are given the impression that you can pick and choose without it being a problem. Which it is not. At any good restaurant.

One other small point about the menu, they have included calorie information on every dish, which I personally find completely pointless.

Before I go any further I want to highlight something that is on the menu, on their website and hinted at in their TV ad;

Lets hope so.

We decided to skip the starter and head straight into the main event that is the grills. Emz chose the 'Plantation Platter (920Kcal)' which consists of 'flame-grilled chicken wings, a baby rack of barbecue glazed ribs, half a spitroast chicken and crackerjack prawns, with grilled corn on the cob, grilled pineapple rings and sour cream & chive dip.' which can be had as a sharing dish or, in this case, as a dish for one.

I picked the premium burger (640Kcal) with cheese (70Kcal), burger sauce (150Kcal), crispy fries (380Kcal) and the surf and turf option (five king prawns served as a second side, 100Kcal).
 

Sounds nice doesn't it? It was. Nice and chunky, cheese positively oozing from it and surrounded by the crispiest golden brown chips I'd seen in a long time. Trouble was I couldn't tuck in just yet as I was feeding a baby. We had planned the meal so that the munchkin would just be getting hungry just as we were finishing our meals and didn't take into account the kitchen staff having their own idea of how long customers should wait.

When I did get round to tucking into the burger it was a little underdone but overall a very nice burger, for the price. The burger relish was a nice accompanier but tasted very much like the special sauce you get on McDonalds burgers.

As Emz was tucking into her chicken she pointed out that it was a little underdone too, but also could possibly be the light in the restaurant. She carried on with the meal regardless. It wasn't long before she started prodding at the spare ribs too. One of these, it turned out, were also undercooked and as she had got food poisoning before from undercooked pork she carried on very carefully.

Meanwhile back at the burger, I was starting to notice the meat wasn't slightly underdone as I had first thought. It was very well done in places and slightly underdone in other places. Now, I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that was not supposed to be like that. Nevermind, It still tasted good.

I hailed a passing waitress (or do we call them servers now? someone better let me know so I don't go alienating the worlds waitresses/servers) who ambled over to our table where I explained the problem with the chicken and ribs to her in a polite, I'm not actually complaining I just wanted to point this out, kind of way and Emz pointed out that it was probably just the one piece that was like it and not to worry. We don't like to complain.

So we gamely carried on with our meals and Emz noticed that, of course, none of the ribs were cooked. Due to the aforementioned food poisoning she gave up, but I finished my burger and chips. We decided that we wouldn't have dessert after all and that we should probably head back to my mums before hitting the road for the long drive home.

When the waitress/server came over to see how the meal was we pointed out that in fact the ribs were undercoooked. Her reply came as a bit of a shock to us.

"They can't be undercooked. It's all cooked somewhere else and then shipped in and reheated here".

I was gobsmacked. feel free to scroll up the page and re-read that piece of advertising gumpf that I highlighted, I'll wait.

So. Yes. Freshest food possible. It may've been fresh when it was cooked but if it had been cooked on site in the expansive kitchens that they have, the chef - no strike that, no one that just reheats food should be called a chef - the COOK would've noticed that the meat was undercooked and done something about it before it got sent out!

The waitress/server took it upon herself to take the plate of undercooked food off to the manager and left us sitting wondering what to do. After a wait of about ten minutes the waitress/server returned, sans plate, and explained that the manager had told her that the food was cooked off site and therefore cannot be undercooked.

Oh well, we're terribly sorry Mr/Mrs manager, we didn't realise that cooking off site ensures food is never undercooked! We didn't, of course say this at the time, we are far too polite.

The waitress/server then went on to say that as we were not happy, the manager has offered us one free desert. As we had decided against desert we did what all good British people do, we apologised for complaining and explained that we were just a bit worried as Emz is breastfeeding and didn't want to poison the baby. We then paid the bill in full and left.

If this was a review then my recommendations would be to avoid The Harvester chain of restaurants as they serve undercooked food that isn't fresh, as they state in their adverts.

Incidently, whilst looking around on the internet for bits about Harvester restaurants I discovered that back in 2008 they were shown on a BBC one show called 'Rouge Restaurants' for 'operating without regard for certain food hygene regulations'. Nice.